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Emma Watson Reveals Why She Almost Never Said The Word 'Feminism'

That HeForShe speech almost looked a whole lot different.

Over the past year, we've heard a whole lot about feminism in Hollywood. Like how a bunch of men consider themselves feminists, for example, while others (and Kaley Cuoco) think it's a bit of a dirty word. We've also heard people preach feminist ideals, while saying more popularly accepted terms like "humanist," whatever the heck that means.

Basically, it's a lot to take in, but one thing has remained constant throughout all of the madness: that Emma Watson, of "Harry Potter" and the United Nations fame, is a badass card-carrying feminist. Except for the fact that she almost wasn't.

“I was encouraged not to use the word ‘feminism,'" Watson told Porter, specifically referring to her now-famous HeForShe speech. "People felt that it was alienating and separating and the whole idea of the speech was to include as many people as possible."

Lucky for us, Watson fought back, because she knows that feminism shouldn't be a dirty word for women, men, or anybody in-between.

"I thought long and hard and ultimately felt that it was just the right thing to do," she continued. "If women are terrified to use the word, how on earth are men supposed to start using it?"

Watson also said that playing Hermione Granger -- or more accurately, not playing Hermione Granger anymore -- has helped her embrace the emboldened, enlightened persona that currently defines her celebrity.

"[I've] spent more than half of my life pretending to be someone else," she said. "While my contemporaries were dying their hair and figuring out who they were, I was figuring out who Hermione was and how best to portray her. Now at 25, for the first time in my life I feel like I have a sense of self that I’m comfortable with. I actually do have things that I want to say and I want to be my most authentic self."